Career & Tech Center awarded $44,000 makerspace grant

The Carroll County Career & Technology Center has received a $44,000 grant from the Dart Foundation to build a makerspace.

The grant will be used to purchase equipment, including a 3-D scanner and printer for plastics, a laser engraver, and a computer numeric control router — to cut plastic, wood and ceramics, according to a Carroll County Public Schools release.

The makerspace will be used by students at the Tech Center, as well as middle school students, to create projects.

CCCTC Principal William Eckles said school staff learned the Tech Center would receive the award before the new year and formally received it on Jan. 4.

He expects the makerspace to be ready by spring.

“Mid-April is our target date,” Eckles told the Times this week. “We want to make sure we actually can get the stuff and understand how it all works before we invite people in.

“And we are looking to use this equipment not just with students at the center, but to have middle school students come in and be able to use it — and see what the possibilities are and what’s out there,” he said.

“So we are looking to broaden who comes into our building and get people an opportunity to use these nice STEM tools.”

Recruits in the Carroll County Sheriff's Office Training Academy get hands-on training behind the wheel of a police car at the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions Driver Training Facility in Sykesville.

Recruits in the Carroll County Sheriff's Office Training Academy get hands-on training behind the wheel of a police car at the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions Driver Training Facility in Sykesville.

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Brian Geraci, Maryland state fire marshal, gives an update after firefighters found a deceased female inside an apartment in the 900 block of Marimich Court in Sykesville Monday morning.

Brian Geraci, Maryland state fire marshal, gives an update after firefighters found a deceased female inside an apartment in the 900 block of Marimich Court in Sykesville Monday morning.